


After Dawn

by CharminglyyEvil



Category: The 100, kabby - Fandom
Genre: A Proposal, Angst, F/M, Family, Fluff, Kabby, New Beginnings, a wedding, happy endings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-25
Updated: 2016-04-27
Packaged: 2018-06-04 10:40:50
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6654766
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CharminglyyEvil/pseuds/CharminglyyEvil
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The war is over. Allie is dead. A new dawn has risen and Arkadia enjoys its first moments of peace it's had in years. And now? Now anything is possible; a marriage, a family. The story of Marcus Kane and Abby Griffin and their new life together.</p><p>"It's always darkest before the dawn".</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**A Surprise**

“You know, you still haven’t told me where we’re going yet”.

Marcus was guiding Abby down the corridor by her waist. His lips quirked into an amused smile. “If I told you where we were going, then it wouldn’t be a surprise”.

He didn’t miss the huff escaping from her pinched lips. “Well is the blindfold really necessary? It’s pitch black Marcus, I couldn’t see even if I wanted to”.

 “Well, if you didn’t wear the blindfold,” he whispered into her ear, sending a shiver up her spine. “Then I couldn’t sneak up on you and do this”.

Marcus cupped her cheek and captured her lips in a soft kiss, tugging her by the waist so her chest crashed into his. Any tensions and suspicions that Abby had towards Marcus’s little surprise drained from her body immediately with the rest of her breath, and she soon leaned into his touch, deepening the kiss. Marcus however slipped away from her embrace, his teeth playfully nipping her lower lip.

 “Tease,” Abby pouted, which only brought a chuckle rumbling in his chest. His arm wrapped around her side again and Abby leaned further into his touch. “You do know that I hate surprises, right?”

Marcus grinned and kissed her cheek. “You’ll love this one, trust me”.

Abby bit back a smile and let him guide her down the corridor silently, even resisting the temptation to take off her blindfold to see exactly where they were. Clearly Marcus had planned this out carefully, and Abby wouldn’t ruin the special surprise.

Their pace slowed as they came to a stop. Abby heard the click and creek of a door swinging open, before he guided her inside. 

“We’re here. I told you it wasn’t far”.

The blindfold dropped from her eyes, flooding light into her vision. Abby gasped. Everywhere she looked, she saw books. Bulky, leather bounded textbooks, frail novels that were held together by torn, thin binders, and rows of diaries written on dirty parchment. They stood neatly together on bookshelves that aligned the walls and divided the room in half.

“A library,” Abby breathed. She whirled around to Marcus, staring at him incredulously. “You did this? Where did you find all the books? _How_ did you manage to keep this a secret?”

“I had help,” Marcus said with a small shrug. “We managed to salvage some books before Mt Whether blew up. Monty found a crate of books that were brought down with the Ark, and I managed to find these in the markets. And Abby, you’ve been running off your feet in Medical every day. It’s not too hard to slip these things past you”. Marcus admired his work, remembering the numerous trips he made to bring the books up here. “You mentioned that we’d need to start training the kids to do more work when we’re gone, we’re going to need more teachers, medics, engineers. I thought this would be a great place for them to study. Raven found some textbooks on engineering, and Jackson added some of your medical textbooks to the collection too. I know it’s not like the library we had back on the Arc, but-“

“Marcus,” Abby stopped him, smiling. “This is perfect”. Abby left Marcus’s side and went to explore the new library, running her hand over the hand crafted shelves ( _so that’s why Marcus’s hands looked a little raw lately)_ , and examining the shelves lined with novels, textbooks and diaries with records of the Earth’s history. “This is just what we needed. The people are going to love it”.

Marcus followed her, barely containing the smile spreading across his features. He peered over her shoulder to see one of Jackson’s textbook she was examining, _Essentials to Human Anatomy and Physiology,_ and rested a hand on her waist to capture her attention.

“I’m glad you like it. Although I should let you know that my intentions on this project weren’t entirely selfless”.

Abby snapped the book shut and turned around to face him. She lifted an eyebrow, her lips tilting into an amused smile. “Oh really? And here I thought Chancellor Kane always had our people’s best interests in mind”.

“Well, not always. Not when his mind is occupied on other things”. Marcus was whispering in her ear now, his beard tickling her jaw. “Such as how long it’s been since we’ve last been alone”.

A small hum stirred in Abby’s chest, a suggestive sparkle touching her eye. “Well, it has been a while. And this room is secluded, so I doubt anyone could disturb us. Besides,” Abby ran a hand up his chest, circling it around his neck. “I think it’s only fair that we make full use of this room and all the privacy it has to offer”.

Marcus smirked. “I won’t argue with you there”.

And he closed the space between them, capturing her lips in a soft kiss. Abby dropped the book to her side and brought her hand to his cheek, her lips moving with his.  It always surprised Abby how his kisses had this effect on her, sucking the air from her lungs and bringing her melting into his arms. How even after their nights tangled in each other’s arms and their stolen kisses throughout the day, Marcus could still send her body burning with desire.

Perhaps that was love. An inextinguishable flame that lay dormant in her chest, waiting for that small smile, lingering look or soft kiss from that special person to come roaring back to life in her heart, and spreading throughout her body; an unquenchable desire she’d always have for him.

Marcus was pushing her back against the shelf now, one hand on her waist and the other slipping under her shirt and sending her shivering underneath him. His tongue parted her lips and slipped inside, intertwining with hers. Abby moaned into his mouth, her hands running up his back to bring his body closer to her. She wrapped her leg around his waist, her body already craving friction and god, she tried to ignore her fears that the door was unlocked and anyone could walk in to see them making out like a couple of horny teenagers.

Marcus’s lips left hers and went to bite the curve of her ear as he squeezed her breast, sending her gasping underneath him. “I forgot to tell you, I have another surprise for you”.

“And you’re telling me this now?”

Marcus chuckled and kissed her lips, before peppering a trail of kisses down the slope of her neck. “You’re going to have to find it though”.

Abby sighed under his lips, her hands tangling through his hair. “And how, pray tell, do you expect me to do that when you’re-“her words quickly died into a moan as his mouth buried into the hollow of her neck. Abby tilted her head back to grant him deeper access. “When you’re doing _this-_ “ Abby managed to utter, releasing another chuckle from his chest.  

Abby was tempted to give into her desires and let Marcus take her against the bookshelf, but _she was_ curious as to what Marcus’s next surprise was. So Abby managed to push Marcus away and, nipping his lips playfully, said “Well, are you going to give me a hint as to where this surprise is then?”

“No hints. You need to find this one on your own”. He resisted the urge to kiss the pout on her lips away.

“Well, it could be anything. How do I even know if I’ve found it?”

Marcus smiled. “Trust me, you’ll know”. His lips inched back to her lips, a sparkle in his eye. “Of course, if you’re ready to give up so soon, we can resume-“

Abby bit back a grin and pushed him away. “Too late Marcus, you’ve got me curious now”. Abby slipped away from his arms and began the search for the mysterious surprise.

Marcus watched her search through the shelves as thoroughly as a mother searching for lice. Abby shifted through the books, flipped through the pages of larger medical textbooks and examined all the books she could lay her hands on. When she was just about to give up, Abby’s eyes caught a brown book depicting a young woman in a white gown. She gasped, picking up the book. _Pride and Prejudice._

She whirled around to face him, rewarding Marcus with a stunned smile. “Where did you find this?”

“It was one of the books we salvaged from Mt Whether”.

Abby’s eyes softened. “And you remembered?”

Marcus approached her, his eyes meeting hers. “You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you”.

Abby inhaled sharply, her heart fluttering wildly. She remembered lying tangled in his arms one morning, asking him what his favourite colour was, his favourite flower, his favourite food, relishing in her memories of him again, and wanting to learn all there was to know about Marcus Kane. So he told her.  And then he had asked her what her favourite book was. _“Pride and Prejudice”,_ Abby had replied. Then she had rolled onto her side and kissed him sweetly, murmuring ‘ _You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you”._

She had instantly fallen in love with the book the first time she had read it on the Ark. She had become attached to Elizabeth Bennet, admiring the girl’s courage and independence, and her open yet well-guarded heart. And although reasonable and level headed Abby Griffin wouldn’t have admitted it at the time, she had developed a crush on Mr. Darcy, falling in love with his handsome features, charming smile and heart melting words. And at night, she had dreamt of lace dresses made out of fine silk and dazzling balls and a colourful world that Jane Austen had conjured, which was so far from her undramatic life confined to the metal walls and dull lab coats on the Ark.

So that night, Abby didn’t waste a second of breath before gushing about why she loved the book so much to Marcus, blushing a little when she realised that she may be boring him. But Marcus didn’t seem bothered. If anything, he found her ‘fangirling’ to be adorable.  

Marcus reached for her hand. “So, are you going to show me why you love this book so much then?”

Abby smiled and led him over to the couch. She sat down on his lap without a second thought. The behaviour was intimate and domestic and would have once frightened her, but it seemed so natural now. Marcus too shuffled further back onto the couch and wrapped his arms around her waist. Abby snuggled back into his arms until she was comfortable, then she opened the book and read.

It was just like the first time, and Abby immediately felt herself get swept away into another world. Marcus however, couldn’t help but repress a breathy chuckle every now and then. Finally Abby stopped, turning around to shoot him an irritated look.

“What?” Marcus asked defensively. “You have an adorable voice when you’re reading, _Elizabeth Bennet”._

Abby bit back a smile, nudging him playfully with her elbow. “Fine, if my voice is so amusing then you can read, _Mr. Darcy”._

Marcus took the book as Abby drew her knees up onto the couch and towards her chest, settling down again. Then Marcus read. He had a deep, eloquent reading voice, and Abby soon felt herself getting lost in the story once more. Marcus’s hand was ghosting up and down her arm in soothing movements when they weren’t turning the page, sending Abby’s eyes fluttering and her body heavy with sleep.

It wasn’t long before Abby was drifting off to sleep in his arms. Marcus kissed her hair and turned the page.  At the bottom of the page below the text was a small hole carved into the paper, about an inch wide and half an inch deep (Marcus had been careful not to cut out any of the text as he drilled through the book, only the blank parts next to the page numbers). And in the hole was a silver ring, melted from metal and engraved with the letters, _I found my hope, and hope was you._

Marcus picked up the ring and stared at the woman he loved with a weary smile. He quoted the book in a whisper, “You must know. Surely you must know it was all for you”.

Marcus untangled himself from Abby and shut the book. He hadn’t planned on Abby falling asleep in his arms. He hadn’t planned on how long it would take the two of them to get to the second proposal in the book, and how late it would be by the time they did so. He hadn’t planned on saying this to her whilst she was asleep, but rather he had imagined himself to be on one knee, his hand holding hers as she would gasp and stare into his eyes with confusion and disbelief _and love_ as he would say, _“You have bewitched me body and soul, and I love you. I never wish to be parted from you from this day on”._

Then she would gasp and stare at the ring in the book in bewilderment, as if it all was a hallucination. And Marcus would grin and ask “ _Well, are you going to keep me hanging here, or do I get an answer?”_

And she would cry out her answer and Marcus would slip the ring onto her finger, barely giving her enough time to catch her breath before he would scoop her up into his arms and cover her mouth with his.

But instead, Marcus kissed her forehead and shifted her so she was lying, sleeping, comfortably on the couch. He placed the book on her lap and pocketed the ring. Still, he couldn’t erase the image of a wide eye Abby in his mind, her features radiating with her smile as she stared at him as if he commanded the sun to rise just for her as he would say,

_“You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you”._

 


	2. The proposal

“So I stopped by Medical today. Would you know me why I didn’t see Abby wearing the ring that I spent twenty minutes burning my fingers over melting and shaping for you?”

Marcus lifted his head up to see Raven leaning against his doorway, her arms folded and eyes raised in a disapproving look. Marcus repressed a sigh and placed his paperwork down, turning his chair around to face her. “It didn’t go quite as planed”.

Raven lifted an eyebrow. “Meaning?”

Marcus scratched the back of his neck uncomfortably. “Abby um…fell asleep while I was reading her the book”.

Raven’s eyes rounded. “Seriously? She fell asleep? God, I know you can be monotonous Kane but-“

“Hey,” Marcus yelped back with a look of defence. “You know Abby hasn’t gotten a wink of sleep since the flu outbreak last week. She was bound to collapse soon”.

Marcus wanted to kick himself. It had been a mistake to tell Raven of his intentions to propose to Abby. But he had needed a ring, and who else could he have turned to? Sure, he could have asked one of the boys to do it, but Marcus wasn’t sure if he wanted Monty wondering why his Chancellor wanted a ring (he wasn’t ready to lose the respect of their people just quite yet). And as Abby had mentioned before, engineers and mechanics were of short supply. And who else but Raven could turn a bunch of scrap metal into elegant jewelry?

 “Well then, you’re just going to have to come up with another plan”. Raven limped inside and rested herself against the edge of Kane’s desk, thinking. “Though I don’t think anyone could beat your original idea. Proposing from her favourite book was genius. You could propose to her in butterfly field, but that seems like a bit of a cliché-“

“Raven,” Marcus stopped her. “I tried to propose to her last night”.

Raven’s eyes widened. “What? Then why isn’t she wearing the-“she stopped, her jaw dropping. “She didn’t say no?”

Marcus shook his head. “No she didn’t…because I didn’t ask”. Marcus paused, noticing Raven’s shock. “I tried, but I just-” Marcus stopped, his voice breaking off.

_Because honestly, he was still trying to figure out what had stopped him._

_…_

_The night was perfect. The clouds had cleared from the previous storms, revealing the shadowy night sky and freckle of silver stars. Marcus was sitting around the crackling fire, watching the flames lick the logs until they turned a searing red, and occasionally, turning his head to watch the flames dance shadows across Abby’s face, trying to work out what she was thinking. Abby had always been a bit of a closed book, but Marcus could tell that her attention was on the crowd of intoxicated, crazed teenagers gathering around Monty’s sound system._

_“God, did we ever have that much fun when we were kids?” she asked._

_Marcus followed her eyes to the dancing teenagers, his lips quirking into a smile. “Well, who’s to say that it’s too late for us now?”_

_Abby lifted her head up, her eyes rounding in surprise. Marcus simply reached for her hand and pulled her up, tugging her onto the dance floor._

_Marcus Kane had never been a romantic. Perhaps it was just another layer of himself that Abby had exposed. She had a habit of doing that. Pulling him towards her, running her fingers through his hair and kissing him senseless, gradually thawing his icy exterior and melting her way towards his heart, revealing parts of himself that Marcus never even knew existed._

_Marcus Kane wasn’t much of a romantic, yet there he was, swaying with the woman he loved under the stars._

_Really, there had been no better time for Marcus to propose._

_And yet, when Marcus stared into Abby’s warm, cinnamon coloured eyes, his breath caught in his chest and the words had clustered in his head and jammed in his throat._

_He loved her, unconditionally. There was no doubt about it. Whenever he looked into her eyes, he felt the world drop dead around him and he was sure that his heart would burst from his chest. And whenever she smiled softly at him, a small tug of her lips that would twinkle bright in her eyes, Marcus swore that he would devote his life to chasing down that smile. And when she kissed him as she did that night under the stars, pulling his body melting towards hers and tangling her fingers through his hair, Marcus felt the air rush away from his lungs and he knew with every ounce of his being, that he wanted nothing more in this world than to marry Abby Griffin._

_And yet…_

_…_

“What if she said no?”

 Raven blinked, clearly taken back. “Why would she say no?”

Marcus inhaled slowly and exhaled through his mouth as he thought through her question. “I don’t deserve her,” he finally said quietly.

Raven studied him closely. “Marcus, Abby loves you. I’ve seen the way you two look at each other. Frankly, it’s sickening. But no one can deny that she wants to spend the rest of her life with you too”.

Marcus stared at the wall behind Raven, letting her words sink into his head. “Sometimes, I can’t look at her without being reminded of the pain I put her through. Raven, I voted to execute her husband, and you don’t think it’s wrong that I want to marry her now?” Marcus paused, thinking. “Abby may have forgiven me for all the pain I've caused her, she tells me time and time again that she does, but…Abby deserves more”. Marcus exhaled slowly, the haunting memory of Allie crucifying him flashing in his mind. It had been one year since that horrific night, and although the memory usually only struck him in his dreams, they occasionally crept up on him. “Abby deserves someone who would have come back for her, who could have protected her _-_ “

Raven suddenly reached for his hand, the gesture silencing him and taking him by surprise. Lately she was able to read Marcus better and better, and knew that he was remembering his horrific reunion with Abby when she was under Allie’s control. “Marcus, you can’t keep on blaming yourself for Abby getting chipped. And you shouldn’t feel guilty for having put our people first that day when you went to Polis to try and negotiate peace. Anyway, you’re forgetting that despite the torture you were put through, you still protected Clarke,” Raven’s voice softened. “You risked your life to protect Abby’s daughter that day. And you still don’t think you deserve her?”

Marcus met her eyes, her words sinking into his head. 

“And you’re forgetting that Abby was the one who had tortured you that night. You’re forgetting that sometimes, she feels just as guilty-“

“She shouldn’t-“

“I know she shouldn’t feel guilty,” Raven continued firmly, ignoring Marcus’s protests. “And neither should you. That’s why you two are good for each other. Don’t you see? You two have daemons, we all do. But that’s why you need each other. To face them together. You’ve changed Marcus since you let Abby into your life, but so has she. And you two are stronger together,” Raven paused, studying him with a contemplative look. Finally she said, “Take it from someone who’s lost the love of their life. Spend every moment with her knowing that you have nothing to lose. After everything you two have been through, be glad that she’s still here with you. You can spend your life blaming yourself and insisting that you should let Abby go because you think she deserves better, or you can man up, leave the past where it belongs and put a ring on her finger”.

Marcus was speechless.

A victorious grin crept onto Raven’s lips. She had finally gotten through to him. “So, after your previous failed attempts at proposing to her, what’s the new plan then?”

Marcus shook his head incredulously at Raven. "I'm not sure-" Marcus stopped, an idea clicking in his mind. A smile dawned across his features. "You know what? I think I have a plan". 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let's hope Marcus can actually propose to Abby next chapter ;) Please leave me your thoughts! 2 more days until we're all a sobbing mess.

**Author's Note:**

> So 3x13 destroyed me and I'm slowly losing hope. My theory is that Abby will remember Kane at first but then Allie will somehow (emotional manipulation?) force her to submit and Abby will end up causing Marcus pain! So I needed to write this to get through this. Basically yes, I want to write a cute kabby wedding haha Please let me know what you thought! I thought this would be the cutest way to propose; who wouldn't want someone to quote pride and prejudice to them? Also I'm aware that I used movie lines but I loved the movie lines, it's so romantic! Anyway, I may just start writing the sequel now because i have too much work to procrastinate. Please leave a review!


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